UIS wants more students studying abroad

The University of Illinois Springfield is pledging to double over the next five years the number of students it sends to study abroad.

UIS has joined the Institute of International Education’s Generation Study Abroad. As part of that initiative, IIE has committed $2 million for a Study Abroad Fund to be used by all its members to provide scholarships to college and high school students and grants to institutions.

UIS will attempt to raise more money to help finance the program through private donations, said spokesman Derek Schnapp.

The Springfield school sent 51 students to study abroad in the 2012-13 academic year, which includes the summer semester. Generally, more students participate in the summer, although they don’t get as many credit hours by choosing that time, Schnapp said.

“In a world of growing interconnectedness, studying abroad is important because it gives students a broader intercultural perspective and prepares them to thrive in increasingly multicultural communities and workplaces,” said UIS Chancellor Susan Koch.

UIS will increase its promotion of study-abroad opportunities and remove barriers — mostly monetary — that hinder students, said Jonathan GoldbergBelle, UIS director of international programs.

UIS recently joined the International Student Exchange Program, a move that adds 150 institutions in 50 countries where UIS students can study. UIS already has independent agreements with universities in Australia, Belgium, China, Denmark, England, France, Japan, Korea, Mexico, The Netherlands, Northern Ireland and Spain.

GoldbergBelle said that if a student studies abroad on one of the exchange programs in England, Australia, Japan or another of the partners, the student will pay his or her regular UIS tuition and fees to UIS and their room-and-board fees to the host institution at the rate the host university charges.

He said for the most part, those room-and-board fees are similar to what they would be paying if they were living on the UIS campus. That means that studying abroad with an exchange partner for a semester or for a year will cost about the same as studying on the UIS campus — about $10,000 per semester for Illinois residents.

The only additional expense is airfare, which runs $1,000 to $2,000.

GoldbergBelle said the short-term programs operate differently.

The students pay UIS the out-of-pocket expenses for each of these programs in addition to their room and board.

“For our longstanding program in Ashikaga, Japan — a 17-day program — our students will pay a program fee of $3,000, which covers their airfare, transportation in Japan, lodging, entrance fees and most meals,” he said. “They will also pay tuition and university fees for a four-credit course — about $1,600 for students from Illinois. The total cost of this program would be about $4,600.”

The final option is for students who study abroad through a university that is not one of the UIS exchange partners or otherwise affiliated with the school. In that scenario, the student would pay all of their expenses directly to the host institution. For a semester, that can run between $12,000 and $25,000 depending upon the university and country.

“For the first two options, our students may be able to use their financial aid package to help cover their expenses,” GoldbergBelle said. “For the third option, our students would have limited access to their aid and would not be able to use any federal aid.”

UIS student Dexter Burns has studied in Mexico and Peru as part of study-abroad programs. He spent a semester at the University of Colima in Mexico and previously went to Peru with a UIS study-abroad seminar.

“I would definitely encourage other people to study abroad,” Burns said. “It’s one thing to read about a foreign country, it’s another thing to actually be there.”

Fewer than 10 percent of all U.S. college students study in another country at some point in their academic career. Generation Study Abroad intends to increase participation to 600,000 students by the end of 2019.

About 2.6 million students receive associates or bachelor’s degrees each year.

“It is clear that major segments of America’s young people aren’t getting the international experience they’ll need to advance their careers and participate in the global economy,” GoldbergBelle said.